De Lima: Why would it be a problem to rejoin ICC?

Former senator Leila de Lima on Tuesday said the Philippine government should fully cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC), adding there should be no issue if the country chooses to rejoin the body.

“Hindi dapat nagiging problem ‘yung issue about rejoining of the Philippines. Kasi unang-una, ‘yung pag withdraw pa lang is very questionable, just to serve the interest of one man,” De Lima said in an ambush interview.

(The issue about the Philippines rejoining ICC should not be a problem. Because, first of all, the withdrawal was very questionable, just to serve the interest of one man.)

“Why would it be a problem now to rejoin? Nung nag accede tayo nung 2011, everybody in the Senate except for one acknowledged or recognized the wisdom of joining sa Statute,” she added.

The Philippines, under then-President Rodrigo Duterte, withdrew from the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, in 2019 after the tribunal began a probe into the drug war, followed by a formal inquiry later that year.

In January 2023, the ICC authorized the reopening of the inquiry after it was suspended in November 2021. 

The ICC Appeals Chamber in July also denied the government’s appeal against the resumption of the inquiry, prompting numerous government officials, including President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra, to speak against continued engagement with the ICC.

However, several House lawmakers have recently filed resolutions urging the Marcos administration to cooperate with the ICC’s investigation.

Meanwhile, on Monday, Senator Risa Hontiveros also filed a resolution urging the administration’s cooperation, saying it is high time for the government to affirm its commitment to advancing humanitarian law and international justice.

Following the calls, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla previously said the possible return to the ICC needs “serious” study.

De Lima, meanwhile, hoped that the study would yield positive results.

“So I hope really that the result of the study by the executive department would be positive na dapat bumalik na tayo sa ICC para ganap nang hustisya ang makuha ng mga naging biktima (on our return to the ICC so that the victims will attain justice),” she said.

The former senator issued the remark following a hearing on her remaining drug case at the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 206, the first she attended without a police escort after she was released on bail in mid November.

De Lima was accused by the Duterte administration of benefiting from the illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) during her stint as secretary of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

De Lima’s first acquittal came in February 2021 when the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 205 junked one of her three cases. On May 12, the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 204 acquitted her and Ronnie Dayan, her co-accused and former bodyguard, in the second case.

Meanwhile, in a separate statement, De Lima took exception to Vice President Sara Duterte’s statement on the government’s cooperation with the ICC, saying there were “several things wrong with [it].”

Duterte on Monday said she will respect the position of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who said that returning to the fold of the ICC was being studied, as he was the architect of the country’s foreign policy.

Despite this, the Vice President said she will reach out to the DOJ regarding her position that the Philippines should not cooperate with the ICC.

“VP Sara is actually undermining this presidential prerogative when she said she intends to submit her own legal position on the matter to the DOJ,” De Lima said.

“But as a member of the cabinet, VP Sara has no business submitting such legal opinions in her capacity as DepEd Secretary… Second, if she is submitting her legal opinion in her capacity as VP, then she is accomplishing precisely the very opposite of her admonition that we should respect the president’s position,” she added.

Further, De Lima said that by submitting a legal opinion, Duterte would put the DOJ in an awkward position.

The former senator also said Duterte is also not objective in giving her opinion on the issue, adding that she is a “potential subject” of the ICC probe.

“All told, the Dutertes of Davao are not the best resource persons for the administration in deciding whether or not to cooperate in the ICC investigation,” she said. —AOL/ VAL GMA Integrated News